TeachersFirst - What's Popular

This page shares the 25 resources most frequently marked as Favorites by TeachersFirst Members in the past 60 days. See what tops the list of TeachersFirst's database of well over 15,000+ educator-reviewed web resources. Find out what other teachers are excited about. Not a TeachersFirst member yet? See the time saving benefits of free TeachersFirst membership.

Use Edmodo for microblogging in your classes. Use microblogging for real time discussions and responses from all students. Designed specifically for education, teachers can easily create a network for their classes where members can quickly respond to each other. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly. Post assignment reminders, build an event calendar, and post messages to the group as well. View a video of how to easily use Edmodo.

In the Classroom

View a screencast demo of using Edmodo here. Before using with a class, create a master administrator and also create two to three "fake students" to practice using Edmodo for a few weeks. Use this suggestion not only to understand how to use Edmodo but to also determine how it will be used in the classroom. Allow students to register by using your group code. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have.

Use this service for class scribes to detail what has been learned that day. In Math, instruct scribes to discuss how to solve a problem. Better yet, allow students the opportunity to discuss how they solve specific problems to identify more than one manner of solving. During class presentations, use Edmodo to provide feedback to the presenter. During videos, students can maintain backchannel discussions in order to recap events, ask for clarification, or carry on meaningful discussion of the content. Use to create stories one line at a time with collaboration from the whole class. Ask questions from the days work to identify which concepts are causing problems with students and need to be reinforced. Post assignments in Edmodo. Students can access assignments and ask questions for clarification. Discuss environmental, health, or other social issues to identify other viewpoints and concerns. Still need more ideas? Check the Edmodo blog.

Use this free online tool to receive instant feedback from students about understanding of classroom content through their mobile devices. The tool works in the web browser on any mobile device (no app needed). Feedback options include self-assessment, multiple choice, and short answer responses. Choose the teacher button to add classes to your account. Input names individually or upload your class list from your computer. A different option offers the ability to provide students with a code to create their own account. Be sure to view the quick tutorials for using Geddit and suggestions for classroom use.

In the Classroom

For those lucky enough to have a classroom set of mobile devices or laptops or who teach in a BYOD classroom, use Geddit to deliver quick assessments, receive student feedback on classroom information, or involve students in classroom lessons. This is a great tool to engage students in the learning process. During a lesson, throw a random "thought" question to everyone based on what you are teaching. Create "ready to go" quick quizzes on any topic. Especially at the beginning of the year, use this tool to survey students on their thoughts about issues that they may not feel comfortable answering by raising their hands or speaking out loud. Create pretests for your gifted students to take to "test out" of already learned material. Find other tools that work on ALL types of devices at TeachersFirst's at BYOD tools.

Nature Notes contains information and activities about plants, animals, and the world around us. Explore critters and habitats. Watch for seasonal changes. Test your identification skills using dichotomous tree guides, a water critter key, and a frog identification guide. Find information about Wisconsin trees and plants and the state symbols. Learn about hibernation, migration, paw prints, fur, and more.

In the Classroom

Show Nature Notes on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and discuss the components included. As a final concluding project, place students in groups, and assign a different part to each group to explore about your own state. Some examples could include critters in your state, trees, or habitats. Be sure to include photos, videos, poetry, and songs. In science, discover the dichotomous key and apply. Look for any keys for plants or animals in your area. Inspire kids to to take a closer look at your environment. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Be sure to read the appropriate grade levels for presentation tools.

This website features a wealth of information regarding the holocaust, including primary source documents, galleries, maps, and movies Browse the incredible amount of information available at this guide. Identify plays and other resources used to document history from the Holocaust. The resources also include software and their sources, as well as interactive quizzes. Other links include a Holocaust timeline, People (groups that played a role in the Holocaust such as victims, resisters, bystanders, etc.), and the Arts. The activities include lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school. The lesson plans include social studies, arts, language arts, thinking/research, and ethics/responsibility. This website requires QuickTime. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Use the activities presented on the site, such as Bioethics of Eugenics or the role of Propaganda during the Holocaust. You can use many of these resources to compare present day beliefs or thoughts about the holocaust, or to evaluate current websites/blogs for accuracy. Social responsibility and action from that period can be compared to current crises in the World today. Students can also use the information to determine the reasoning behind the actions of each of the groups and write an editorial about that group's beliefs or create a piece of artwork depicting their thoughts and emotions.

If you could have 100 objects from throughout history, how would you use them in your teaching? The British Museum delves into its collections and provides a rotating group of 100 objects. Each object is categorized by time period, theme, and place. The objects can be searched and grouped accordingly. Each object has extensive supporting information, lesson plan ideas, essential questions, and suggestions for linkages to other objects. A PDF download for each object is available for classroom handouts. Finally, there are links to outside resources for further study. There are also connections to Key Stage (grade level) and Curriculum area that are specific to the British educational system. If you aren't familiar with Key Stages: Stage 1 is K-2, Stage 2 is grades 3-5, Stage 3 is grades 6-8, Stage 4 is grades 9-10, and Stage 5 is grades 11-12. Since this site was created in the UK, American English speakers may notice some slight spelling differences.

In the Classroom

While the objects are classified with an eye toward their relevance to British history, there are plenty of connections to historical inquiry regardless of geographic area. If you are not focusing on British history yourself, consider using this concept to challenge students to select 100 (or some more manageable number) objects to represent their area of interest. What 100 objects might represent their community's history? Their school's history? Their family's history? From a historian's perspective, how do objects represent historical themes? How can we discover more about a culture or historical time period by examining the objects of that time? Why and how do historians choose particular objects to put into museums, and how do those objects tell a story? How could you create a "museum" of your school or of your community using objects?

Smarty Pins is an online game combining Google Maps with historical trivia questions. Start a game, and a trivia question pops up requiring an answer that can be mapped. The game gets you started in the right general location, but you have to drop a pin in the right spot to answer the question. Your score depends upon how close you are. Starting with 1000 points, you lose a point for every cumulative mile you are away from the target(s). The questions come from broad categories like science, history, current events and entertainment, and it's possible to narrow your questions to just one of the categories.

In the Classroom

Smarty Pins would be great as a reward for students who finish work promptly, for advanced students who have completed an assignment before other students, or as a way to focus student attention quickly at the beginning of class. It can be used collaboratively from an interactive white board, or it launches from both the Android and the iOS Google map app or from a desktop. Challenge your students to design their own geography quizzes using Mapskip, reviewed here, adding their own "stories" with questions.

Modern Chalkboard is an online resource for free Smart Board interactives for elementary grade levels. Choose from math, grammar, social studies, and science resources. Choose any topic to view a short description of the file including correlation to Common Core Standards and appropriate grade level. Click to download to your computer. Some files also include a downloadable PDF Follow-Along Worksheet. If you don't have a Smart Board, convert files using SMART Notebook Express, reviewed here.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this resource for use throughout the year for interactive whiteboard lessons. Share activities on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students operate the board. Some activities would also be appropriate for individual computers.

Improve your slide presentations with audience interaction using EverySlide. Upload any PowerPoint or Keynote presentation to your EverySlide account. You will then receive your unique presentation URL. Viewers participate by typing in the code displayed at the top of your presentation. Participants can provide feedback via instant polls or question responses. Following your presentation, review feedback or download contact information and answers into a spreadsheet. Create instant polls, word clouds, class reports, and more. The free version works on any device (perfect for your BYOD - bring your own device classroom).This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use your existing presentations and upload them to EverySlide. EverySlide is perfect for use in your BYOD or 1:1 classroom. Use during your presentations to increase student interest and interaction. Check understanding of your ELL students by having them respond or pose questions throughout the presentation. Share with students for them to use during their own presentations, inviting other students to comment and answer questions. During Open House night with parents, demonstrate how EverySlide provides interaction. Use EverySlide during professional development presentations to invite discussions from colleagues. Anytime you need an engaging and interactive presentation platform... look no further than EverySlide!

Test out your logic, mechanical understanding, and creativity as you create amazing 2D contraptions! Each contraption uses wheels, wooden stationary logs, and power moving water rods to create a moving vehicle to push a target to the goal. Get a taste of the challenge by trying your hand at the introduction activity. Then begin your regular contraption. Each level adds more challenge. Use the delete button, and try again until you succeed. Registration is not required to use this site. However, more options are available if you register (FREE). As you progress through a level, earn points and badges. Save your designs and send your best designs to your friends using a specific url. You can turn off the (rather annoying) music by clicking the speaker icon.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

In the classroom, develop logic, perseverance, and creativity for your gifted and high achieving students. These activities could be used with all learning levels. Use this activity as part of a unit on inventions or as a lead in to a Maker's Faire. Introduce this activity on your interactive whiteboard or projector and you will have all students hooked! Your ESL/ELL students and weaker readers will be on equal footing with their peers since this site requires very little reading after the introduction. Capture the attention of your students by gamifying science and logic. Continue with class discussions of movement, energy, logic, and strategy. Use as a stepping stone to begin a unit on geometry, energy, or motion. In elementary science classes, include this activity for students who have mastered required curriculum to go beyond the basics of simple machines and motion. Have students add a written explanation of the contraption to take sequencing to a new level. (A screenshot would help them illustrate their writing.) After drawing a scaled model, create the contraption using real objects. Discover the types of energy and movement that are in the model. Organize a contraption competition. Share this link on your class website for students (and their parents) to "tinker" with at home.

What just happened here? The New York Times offers hundreds of user-submitted photographs from all over the world, each capturing "a moment in time" on a Sunday in May, 2010. Search by theme, and then give the virtual globe a spin to select a location from which to view your moment in time. Repeat. You won't want to stop. See the world in images from all over the world, all on the same day.

In the Classroom

Each of the "moment in time" photographs provides a wonderful thinking/writing/discussion prompt. What Just Happened Here? If it happened somewhere far away from me, how is it different from what happens in my backyard? What do I have in common with what is pictured? What don't I understand? Use this site to generate ideas for writing, for art, for debate. Use this as an avenue to open discussion about different cultures. Imagine a "moment in time" from another date, such as June 6, 1944, Sept 11, 2001, or an ordinary day in 2014. Challenge students to imagine and create their own moments in time to share.

An admirable effort by a California school district to honor Japanese Americans who were discriminated against and sent to internment camps during World War II, this site contains a wealth of information for those doing research on this difficult chapter of American history. Although this site would be most useful for either teachers or students doing in-depth research on the topic, there are some more generally helpful gems here. Along with the wonderful interviews with people who were directly affected by discrimination, there are video clips and photographs that would be helpful in illustrating this time to students.

In the Classroom

There are lesson plans (tied to California standards) and good resource lists for students and teachers. Skip the "guided tour" of the website, however, unless you are very new at using the Internet. Share this resource as one of several when studying civil rights, discrimination, and the U.S. Constitution in theory and practice. Have students create products to compare the internment camps to similar acts in history or create a presentation on the constitutional violations of such camps. Or include this as part of a study of the decades of the twentieth century.

The Holocaust can be a difficult subject to teach in the elementary grades. This site, created by Carol Hurst, helps teachers present the topic without focusing on the more inappropriate areas of the subject. The discussion ideas provide important questions about the characters and the activities focus on the time and setting of the book. Teachers will find this a useful entry into a study of the world during World War II.

This digital archive from the University of California offers narrative and images describing the forced internment of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II. It offers a troubling comparison to events that took place in other nations during the war. Interesting possibilities for discussions on discrimination, national security, etc.

In the Classroom

If looking for primary sources about Japanese relocation, this site is a treasure trove of images, letters, diary entries, orders, etc. This site provides material from both the camp and the Japanese forced to relocate there, making the perfect source for a lesson examining all sides of the issue. There are also essential question hosted on this site that could lend themselves to discussions or journal prompts to introduce the topic.

Encourage students to think critically about events that led to the rise of Adolph Hitler with this interactive story board. After learning about the complex issues faced by German citizens after World War I, students can use this interactive tool to create a presentation reflecting their understanding of Germany's political environment during the 1930's. Completed storyboards can be viewed, saved, or printed.

In the Classroom

This is a very cool way to get students to review their information creatively. It's best to allow a few days for this, so be sure to start an activity like this with some extra time in mind. Assign students in groups of two and have them create a storybook explaining the rise of the Third Reich and Hitler's popularity pre-World War II. This would be a great review activity before a test or assessment.

Build interactive video lessons with EduCanon. Create an account and get your teacher code for students to use. Either paste in the address of the YouTube or Vimeo video you want to use, or use keywords to search YouTube and find it. Stop the video at any point and input a reflective pause or multiple choice, fill in the blank, check all that apply, and free response questions. Find several tutorial videos for Educanon on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, be sure to stick with Vimeo videos, so they can be viewed once your video lesson is complete.

In the Classroom

Create EduCanon videos for use in your flipped classroom or for differentiating instruction in any subject. Assign videos to individuals or groups of students. Monitor student usage and progress using the site's tools. Allow students to create their own videos to review classroom material. Create videos for beginning of units, end of unit review, or ongoing instruction throughout the year. Share with Special Education and ESL/ELL teachers as a resource for creating and differentiating assignments. Create EduCanon videos for end of year review sessions.

These ten question quizzes, written by Thinking Teachers, change each Friday and are ready to go with one edition for middle school students and one for elementary students. The quiz presents ten questions, one at a time. You have only ONE try to pick the correct answer, so think carefully. You get points for each correct answer, totaling up to a possible 100. When you finish, you see your score and how long you spent. Questions are intended to stretch your thinking. Printable versions are available along with answers to the previous week's Twister. A new version of the Twister is mobile-friendly and adjusts to any screen size. Take the Twister with you wherever you go!

In the Classroom

Since elementary and middle school curriculum content varies from location to location, it is unlikely that every question will fall within the scope of your school's curriculum. High point questions may fall outside standard classroom fare. Five point questions tend to be at the knowledge/comprehension/application level of Bloom's taxonomy and closer to "normal" content. Ten pointers are more likely cross-curricular application/analysis, and twenty pointers require analytical thinking and a wider experience level, such as knowledge of current events or information beyond normal curricula. Twenty pointers may require more than one student's input.

Do the questions as a whole-class activity on a multimedia projector or interactive whiteboard with students contributing the portions of knowledge they do know toward solving the question. Using teamwork and thinking aloud can often help the group reach a conclusion that no single member could do on his/her own. They can each test different math answers to see which one is correct. This process will not only foster thinking aloud and group communication, but also model test-taking skills for multiple choice.

Alternatively, do the Twister in small groups, with one student an answer entry but others as researchers on neighboring computers to find out what the group does not know. It may be helpful to assign roles: moderator (assigns what to find out and helps the group reach consensus), keyboarder (enters responses, may conduct research in a new window), or researchers (find information as assigned). Use the Twisters to model ad teach information literacy skills in a high-motivation activity. Or offer the Twisters as an enrichment challenge or extra credit option for students to do at home. Ask parents to be on the honor system to sign a note indicating the score their child achieved. Since parents may be overly interested in helping, you may want to simply give extra credit for anyone completing the quiz, no matter the score. Be sure to mark this ready to go exclusive in your favorites and share it on your teacher class web page.

Here you will find everything you will ever need to know about plagiarism and citing sources. Click on Plagiarism 101 and find out exactly what plagiarism is and the different types of plagiarism. Citing Sources explains what a citation is, why one should cite sources, how to paraphrase, how to quote material, what a footnote is, and when one should cite the source. Although this site is rather plain in appearance, it is a hot topic and definitely a site to save and share with students!

In the Classroom

Meet your Common Core standards for nonfiction reading using the pages at this informative site! In addition, every student who creates a report, presentation, speech, or project, in any subject, needs to know this information. Consider dividing and presenting this site with a teacher in another curriculum, so students get the idea that this is information for EVERY class. Consider presenting the information, questions, and quizzes using a program such as GoClass, reviewed here or Answer Pad, reviewed here. With these programs, you can create questions or a scavenger hunt. Then you can quiz students on the information and have it all self-corrected. Moreover, using one of these programs will make this text heavy, but necessary material, much more tolerable for your students. You may want to challenge your gifted and musically inclined students to create a rap highlighting the important information they learned about plagiarism and citing sources. Have them teach the rap to the rest of the class. Or have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as Wordle (reviewed here).

Discover a collection of resources for the teaching and learning of fractions, decimals, and percentages. These resources will work on your interactive whiteboard, most tablets, iPad, or a regular computer! This site does seem ideal for BYOD classrooms, but they do mention that some of the activities run slow on a standard Android browser. An app (non Internet) version will be available soon for a small fee. This review is for the free portion of the site. At the time of this review, there were 15 free resources to explore. Some sample topics include: Fraction Bars, Decimal Compare, Percent to Fraction, Decimal Lines, and more.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Teach through your students' favorite form of learning, technology! Introduce concepts on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Use this site at a computer learning station. Provide this link on your class website during your fraction or decimal units. Challenge students to transfer learning to physical manipulatives and explain concepts in their math journals.

The availability of high quality visual resources has exploded in recent years, but we should not forget about the value of listening, undistracted by color and movement. Listen Current has gathered together stories from public radio broadcasts and organized them into a rich resource for learning about current events, English language arts, social studies, and science. Each audio story is accompanied by lesson plans tied to state standards and the Common Core. Use the keyword search to discover resources by topic, or access Listen Current every day for timely current events stories. Sort topics by grade level (middle school or high school), topic, or curriculum area. Using the site requires registration, and there is a fee-based Premium version. The free version, however, includes lesson plans, current events and resources such as vocabulary lists and listening guides.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Carving out some regular classroom time for students to "put on their listening ears" and focus on an auditory experience helps develop an important learning skill. Share the stories on a projector or interactive whiteboard. If you are in a BYOD classroom, have students listen on their own computers (with earbuds). Start the day with a short (4-5 minute) current event story and keep students engaged in timely news discussions. Choose a keyword or topic relevant to an ongoing lesson and introduce authentic participant voices to the discussion. Flip your classroom and have students listen to the story at home before the lesson. Have students report back to the class or a small group about what they learned. Consider using these audio lessons for English language learners to develop their skills using rich, relevant content.

This site, created especially for third grade students, includes several interactive grammar lessons. Topics include "Singular and Plural Nouns," "Main Verbs and Helping Verbs," "Subject and Object Pronouns," "quotation marks," among others. The interactives require Shockwave. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

In the Classroom

Use this site as a class activity on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Share the activities as an introduction to a new topic or a review before a quiz. Have students work with partners to explore certain topic areas together. Or use this site to create a Language Arts center. List this site on your class website for students to use both in and out of the classroom. Save this site in your favorites on your class computers.

Come along with Max and Molly and help them "talk to the aliens" and correct their punctuation. There are three levels of difficulty. The beginning level mainly focuses on capitalization, periods, and question marks. The more difficult levels delve into more complex punctuation (commas, quotation marks, and more). The website also features a "full screen" option, printable worksheets, engaging sound effects (which can be turned off), and animations.

Although this site uses British English, this activity is useful to practice American English. At the time of this review, all words were common in both forms of English. The site requires Flash and Adobe Acrobat. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

In the Classroom

Demonstrate this activity on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Then, create a learning center for students to use this website, or provide individual laptops or computers. Be sure to provide headsets. Use the three difficulty levels to differentiate for your students. You may want to list this website in your class newsletter and on your class website so students can practice punctuation at home.

Use your pictures and PhotoFunia to create photo collages, flyers, family trees, holiday albums, and more. No registration is needed! PhotoFunia has hundreds of effects and filters. More are added weekly. To add shadows, age your photo, or render it black and white just visit the Filters category. Add clever features such as an astronaut or a Santa suit, a witch's hat or a queen's crown. Looking for an attractive frame for your photos? Find one here. Write on the sand or graffiti text on the wall. Carve your name on the ground or create your very own road sign using text effects. The program is as easy to use as picking the effect and uploading a photo. Save it to your computer or email it. Try using PhotoFunia online with no registration, or get the free app for iOS or Andriod, and most other smartphones. At the time of this review, all photo effects appeared appropriate for use in the classroom. However, we always suggest you preview the tool before sharing it with students.

In the Classroom

You do not need to be artistic to transform a personal or stock photo into a stunning work of art or even an amusing image. Adjust any image's color intensity, value, and hue using the filters. Use this tool anytime that photos need to be edited for use in class blogs, newsletters, wikis, or websites. In primary grades, this tool could be useful for teachers to use to edit pictures from a field trip, science experiments, and more. Share the editing process with your younger students using your interactive whiteboard or projector. Edit together! Encourage older students to use this site themselves on images for projects or presentations. Use the features and effects to edit images to fit styles of photos when doing historical reports or to set the mood.

Celebrate 25 years of the World Wide Web with this retrospective in interactive form. Scroll through to read about the first ideas and learn about the explosive growth and important events throughout the years. Choose auto-play to watch the timeline unfold or scroll at your own pace. As you progress through the story, watch for links to web stories. Viewers of the site share their personal memories each step along the way. Hover your mouse over the right side of your screen to link to the entire report in PDF format.

In the Classroom

Story of the Web is perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard or projector in a unit on technology and invention or in a computer literacy class. Share this site with students who have grown up on the Internet to provide an understanding of how quickly technology has developed. Compare it to the development of a human being over 25 years! Have students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Easel.ly, reviewed here or Venngage reviewed here. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) comparing communication 25 years ago to the present.

Looking for a great site that offers simple shapes and tools to manipulate to learn math concepts? Looking for a great site to play simple games? Find both here. Use this site on single computers with individuals or groups of students or with a whole class on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Select a grade and then add backgrounds such as coordinates or other grids. Add manipulatives such as algebra tiles, currency, cubes, or counters. As you scroll through the options, a preview window shows what the selection will look like. Use other tools such as pens, compasses, and rulers with all of the manipulatives. Bring your lessons to life interactively using these manipulatives. Choose "Game boards" or "Story boards" under "Backgrounds" for other great options for any class! Use the print function to print the finished screen.

In the Classroom

In Science or Math, use the backgrounds to create a large graph paper screen on an interactive whiteboard or projector to explain how to complete an activity. In Math, find a number of backgrounds or manipulatives to illustrate math concepts. For example, use the Equation Charts background to learn solving equations. Allow students to enter the numbers into the equation and solve then in front of the class. Use Base Ten blocks to illustrate area, volume, and other concepts in Math. Follow with actual manipulatives such as blocks that can be stacked for additional reinforcement. Use story boards for any class as ways to brainstorm ideas, solving problems, and creating flowcharts. Use the storyboard pictures as writing prompts or to frame math or science questions for better understanding. After demonstrating any activity with the whole class, use this site as a perpetual math center with different assignments for students to work with manipulatives on their own or in pairs. Post screenshots at the center for the tools students should use for that week's center. No clean up and no lost pieces! Share this site on your class web page for at-home practice, as well.